Pubdate: Mon, 6 Jul 2009
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.signonsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Jeff Mcdonald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

FEW APPLY FOR MEDICAL-MARIJUANA CARDS ON FIRST DAY

SAN DIEGO -- On the first day qualified  medical-marijuana patients
were allowed to seek county  identification cards, 17 people turned up
at the public  health office near Old Town to apply.

County officials set aside a special wing in the  Rosecrans Avenue
office of the Health and Human  Services Agency to accommodate
applicants, but at  mid-day today the information and records clerks
were  all but sitting idle.

"We wanted to be ready for them if they showed up en  masse," said
Adrienne Yancey, an assistant deputy  director for public health services.

The county scheduled 26 appointments through this week,  and was also
accepting walk-in patients for the cards,  designed to help police and
sheriff's deputies  distinguish between legitimate patients and
recreational pot smokers or illegal dealers.

San Diego County sued California in 2006 over the  issue, but lost in
Superior Court and on appeal. Both  the California and U.S. Supreme
Courts declined to hear  the case.

Public health officials expect to issue 100 or so cards  a month over
the next year. The fee is set to recover  the cost of processing the
applications.

No one left the county health office with an I.D. card
yesterday.

The county has 35 days to process applications and  patients must pick
up return to the office to pick up  the cards in person when they are
completed or drop off  a pre-paid self-addressed FedEx envelope.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake